Posts filed under 'Full Text of Press Release'
Statement by National Peace Council of Sri Lanka:
The violent clashes that have taken place in the Muslim-inhabited parts of the east have led to the killing of several persons and to a climate of rapidly escalating tension. These clashes have come shortly after the Eastern Provincial Council elections which the TMVP contested while remaining an armed group whose presence has become more openly obvious following the elections.
The present clashes have pitted members of the TMVP against the Muslim community and reflect the deep suspicions and frustration following promises made and broken in the aftermath of the elections. The use of arms by the TMVP is unacceptable. The National Peace Council believes that if left unchecked they are likely to lead to further clashes and to an increase in tensions between the Tamil and Muslim communities, and this trend should be reversed immediately.
Having elections in the east, although flawed, was an important step towards empowering the people in the province to democratically determine their future. The post election period provides yet another opportunity to the government and the newly established Eastern Provincial Council to demonstrate their commitment to the democratic process and to promoting good governance and ethnic harmony in the region. We are encouraged by the willingness of the leader of the TMVP and Chief Minister Pillayan, to meet with the leader of the Muslim component of the ruling alliance M L A M Hizbullah and opposition leader Rauff Hakeem. We urge them to make a joint appeal for peace and non violence and ensure that their members behave
accordingly.
The National Peace Council calls on the government to reconsider its stance of permitting the TMVP to operate as an armed group, while providing this party that has entered the democratic process with maximum protection.
In addition, the police and armed forces which are the legitimate security arms of the state need to be made fully independent in enforcing the law instead of being compelled to operate in a partisan manner.
As members of civil society who have been supporting the processes of democratic transformation of the east, we are deeply disturbed by the unravelling of the possibilities of peaceful coexistence in the east following the provincial council elections. We are perturbed at the proliferation of small arms, former militant groups in the democratic process being permitted to carry arms and distribution of arms to civilians to provide security for communities. These measures are likely to lead to extreme militarization that will ultimately lead to a total collapse of the rule of law from which will find it extremely difficult to extricate ourselves.
Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council
The National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
May 28th, 2008
Full text of media release by National Peace Council of Sri Lanka:
The suicide bombing in a busy street in Colombo’s commercial area of Fort, targeting buses in which riot police were stationed have killed at least 10 and injured another 95 including civilians passing by in the vicinity. The National Peace Council condemns this attack which has the hallmarks of the LTTE.
[A glass plate protecting a statue of Buddha is damaged at a temple near the scene of the bomb explosion in Colombo May 16, 2008-pic. Reuters via Yahoo! News by Buddhika Weerasinghe]
Sadly the blast took place in the heart of Colombo’s business centre, in close proximity to the Hilton hotel and opposite a Buddhist temple. It took place at a time in which millions of Sri Lankans are preparing to celebrate Vesak, the day of the birth, Enlightenment and passing of Lord Buddha, whose foremost precepts were to not take life and to meet hatred with love. Ironically, the police personnel were stationed for riot duty in view of the inauguration of the administration of the newly elected Eastern Provincial Council at the Presidential Secretariat nearby and a demonstration by the opposition parties against the manner those same elections had been held.
The Provincial Council elections and the local government elections held earlier in the east were deeply flawed.They highlighted the disappointing status of democracy in Sri Lanka despite over seventy five years of universal franchise. The people living in the Eastern province failed to experience free and fair elections that could have facilitated a credible process of devolution of power. It is now the responsibility of the government and provincial administration to ensure that development of the east will go hand in hand with the protection of human rights and human security in these areas.
The National Peace Council expresses our condolences to the victims and their families. We call upon both the Government and the LTTE to end their reliance on a military solution and, in this Vesak period, to contemplate the path of negotiations based on human values and principles of non-violence to ensure the best interests of the people they claim to represent.
Executive Director
On behalf of Governing Council
National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
May 17th, 2008
Statement by National Peace Council:
On Saturday May 10 the people of the Eastern Province will cast their vote at crucial elections that will have a bearing on the future course of politics in the country, and especially with regard to the ongoing ethnic conflict. The election can be historic as it will represent for the first time the hopes and opinion of the people of the east through an electoral process that is confined to the Eastern Province alone. The National Peace Council expresses its concern that the period of the election campaign has been marked by undercurrents of intimidation although there has been low overt violence. If conducted unfairly, these elections can misrepresent the will of the people of the east, who are unique in being from all three major ethnic communities and in significant proportions.
The National Peace Council views the forthcoming elections as providing an opportunity to the government to demonstrate its commitment to the democratic process as part and parcel of its strategy to resolve the ethnic conflict in a just and democratic manner. So far the level of violence has been relatively low which is a positive feature that we hope will continue until election day on May 10 and in the post-election period. However, available evidence indicates that campaigning was carried out under a security environment not conducive to a free and fair election.
[A boy looks out of his classroom at the Kaliyakadu camp for internally displaced Tamil people in Batticaloa, east of Sri Lanka May 8, 2008. REUTERS/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi-via Yahoo! News]
The relative fairness of an election cannot be determined solely by considering what occurs on election day, as there are a number of other factors which can affect the citizen’s and political parties’ ability to participate effective in the democratic process. One of the controversial features of the elections is that the TMVP, which is a former militant organization continues to retain its arms on the grounds of self defence. In addition, the TMVP is contesting in alliance with the government, which has put the system of checks and balances on electoral malpractice into jeopardy. The basic requirement for a free and fair election is that all the contesting parties are unarmed and not in a position to intimidate both their political rivals as well as voters who will be fearful to cross the path of the armed party. Election monitoring organizations even filed action in the courts calling for the disarming of the TMVP for the purposes of conducting free and fair elections but without success due to the absence of jurisdiction of the courts in this matter.
Reports from the opposition political parties contesting the eastern elections, and from election monitors and the media, have highlighted a significant level of intimidation that has obstructed the electoral campaigns of the opposition parties. There are allegations that the TMVP has been intimidating its political rivals and put them into such a state of fear that they dare not campaign in areas in which the TMVP has its armed presence. The very low level of campaigning by opposition parties in some parts of the east has been independently verified by election monitors and the media. These same sources have also reported that in some instances polling cards have not been delivered to voters and that the TMVP has been issuing identity cards on its own, which could be used to fraudulently cast votes.
The National Peace Council urges the government to ensure that the election officials and police are suitably empowered to deal with any and all attempts made to tamper with the electoral process on May 10. We believe that having elections in the east, accepting some flaws, is an important step towards empowering the people in the east to democratically determine their future. But we wish to register our concern that an electoral process marked by intimidation, unless rectified even in these last days, will undermine the democratic processes that are necessary to restore peace and ethnic harmony in the country and can lead to a further marginalizing and alienation of disempowered ethnic minorities.
Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council
National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
May 8th, 2008
Our journey among the plantation workers is to evict the clique of reactionary ‘all-time ministers’
Remarks by Mano Ganesan MP, at Bogowantalawa May Day Rally:
Today the plantation workers vote and elect their own representatives. Beginning from the bottom, there are hundreds of local and provincial councilors. There are ten parliamentarians of recent Indian descent. Except me, nine are ministers. Therefore the under development of the plantation community is cannot be because of any inadequate political representation. The prime fault is not in the political system but in those persons, who have been elected from the plantations over and over again, said Mano Ganesan MP at the DWC May Rally held at Bogowantalawa, Nuwara-Eliya district on May 1st 2008. Ganesan who is the president of Democratic Workers Congress, the plantation trade union wing of Western Peoples Front said further in his address to the large gathering of plantation workers,
Plantation workers have sacrificed everything at their disposal for this country. Hard work of plantation workers has kept this country going for the last 200 years. It is going to be the same for next many decades in the future. Look at the prices fetched by tea and rubber today. Plantation export is the single largest foreign exchange earner in real terms. I challenge any economist to disprove me. But pathetically this is the sect of people who have been meted with the most injustice treatment. One can understand this by comparing plantation community’s enormous contribution to this country with their appalling living conditions. Be it education, housing, health, everywhere plantation statistics are at the bottom. Recent studies have revealed that over 50,000 of under aged plantation boys and girls are working as domestics in the urban sector. Those who talk about child soldiers never bother about these child laborers. Estate schools and living line rooms are no better than cattle sheds. Illicit liquor is brewed, distributed and sold systematically in the estates which keep them down so that their life span is low.
But who is responsible for this horrendous state of affaires prevailing within the plantation worker community? You cannot put the blame on the government of the day. I cannot fault President Mahinda Rajapakse for this. You can neither point blankly hold all the past governments responsible. There was a time when Indian origin plantation workers were stateless. They were not permitted to vote and elect their own representatives. Our late president Abdul Aziz and CWC president Soumayamoorthy Thondaman were nominated to the parliament to look after the interests of the plantation workers. It happened during the Senanayake and Sirimavo regimes. But today times have changed.
The political history of Plantations did not begin with Mahinda Rajapakse government. Plantation politicians were virtually part of all successive governments since 1978. You can call the names of past governments from J.R.Jayawardena, R.Premadasa, D.B.Wijetunge, Chandrika Kumarathunga, Ranil Wickramasinhe and to current Mahinda Rajapakse. What’s more, these politicians held numerous ministries. I can name a few subjects from Rural and livestock development, Tourism, Textile, National housing development, Estate housing development and to the ministry of Estate infrastructure development. In addition today there are deputy ministries of education, health, postal, vocational training and justice held by plantation based politicians. Political power and opportunities were given to these politicians for the last 30 years since 1978 by successive governments. You cannot blame Sinhala majority politicians for all the ills of the plantation workers.
Of course there is a form of blamable majority communalism practiced against poor plantation worker community. The governments of India and Britain too share parts of the blame. But the major blame for the under development of the plantation community should go to the credit of Minister Arumugan Thondaman’s Ceylon Workers Congress and Minister P.Chandrasekaran’s Up-Country People front. Actually the Sinhala presidents and prime misters were somewhat generous towards the plantation community in the recent past. President Chandrika created a super ministry that is Estate infrastructure. Prime Minister Ranil offered the national housing ministry what was previously held by president Premadasa. Today President Rajapakse has given two cabinet and seven deputy ministries to these plantation based politicians. Therefore we cannot put blame the Sinhala political leadership and escape. The major culpability lies with plantation electors and the elected. These men have failed miserably in their respective duties to their poor electors. These self centered plantation politicians have become part of the problem ailing the plantation community. We are reconstructing our historical Democratic Workers Congress trade union in which great plantation leaders Abdul Aziz, Nair, Doraisamy Naidu, V.P. Ganesan and others performed. We have a duty to our electors in Colombo. Also we are determined to the help out our north eastern brethren in their struggle for political and human rights. Yet we have plenty of energy and bravery left in us. Today let us in the Western Peoples Front and Democratic Workers Congress pledge with courage to evict the ‘all-time ministers’ from the plantations and bring development and justice to this pathetic people.
United National Party National Organiser S.B. Dissanayake, WPF General Secretary Dr.N.Kumaragurupran MMC, DWC General Secretary and WPF national Organiser Praba Ganesan MPC and many others addressed the rally.
[Full Text of Media Release by office of Mano Ganesan MP]
May 3rd, 2008
A team from the Centre for Policy Alternatives and INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre visited Jaffna from 18-21st February 2008 to meet with colleagues and partners in the peninsula and to obtain a firsthand impression of the situation there. The team spoke to local civil society actors, community leaders, IDPs, and members of international humanitarian agencies in Jaffna Town and outside.
The team proposes the following ways forward to address challenges faced in the embattled city.
1. While there is no question that the security situation demands restrictions on movement of the people of Jaffna, the present situation creates an environment of alienation and fear which is counterproductive to the government’s stated intentions of working for the freedom of the Tamil people of the north and east. There should be greater consideration paid by the military and civilian administration to create an environment in which people’s ability to earn a living takes priority.
2. Addressing the human rights issues is a highly complex process, but there are small steps which would relieve some of the tension, fear and suffering. Providing lists of people who have been arrested and ensuring that those called for questioning into military camps be accompanied by family members are first steps towards improving the human security situation. Continuing and increasing language training to the police and the military (which has been previously carried out with some personnel) would also improve communication between them and the local people and help strengthen confidence in state agencies.
3. Providing compensation and support to families of the disappeared and killed is another critical measure.
4. The Jaffna ‘prison’ needs to be upgraded, facilities need to be improved and the separation of ’surrendees’ from other prisoners and remandees with separate rehabilitation centres, should be a priority for all those concerned about the administration of justice.
5. Clarification of geographic locations of HSZs and establishment of consistent guidelines for access should be done so that at least a part of the IDP population can resume their livelihoods.
6. The Commissioner General of Essential Services should engage in a discussion with private shipping companies and the trading community in Jaffna regarding a structure for bringing down costs of goods in Jaffna. This would also involve the Government taking responsibility for ensuring lower shipping costs.
7. The civil aviation authorities should set out guidelines for airline operators that take into consideration not only security issues but also issues regarding the safety and comfort of paying passengers.
8. The Government should review the impact of high prices, security restrictions and lack of livelihoods on vulnerable sections of the Jaffna population. Rations and other assistance schemes to IDPs, Samurdhi Beneficiaries and fisher families should also be accordingly reviewed.
9. The Government should ensure the freedom of expression by guaranteeing protection to media workers and facilitating journalist’s access to communication and printing paper.
10. The Government to assist humanitarian agencies in their work. Ensuring access for humanitarian agencies and providing visas for staff members in a speedy manner are critical steps expected of the Government.
11. Humanitarian Agencies need to take up protection issues relating to the Jaffna populous and their own local staff members. Agencies should devise means of highlighting and addressing critical protection issues including malnutrition and the needs of victims and families of victims. Having more foreign staff members in Jaffna would better ensure the security of staff members.
Full Report at CPALanka.org [pdf file]
May 3rd, 2008
Statement by Amnesty International
Ensuring respect for human rights around the world very often relies on impartial and rigorous media coverage–without exposure and public scrutiny abuses can flourish under a veil of secrecy and denial.
The importance of the media in conflict situations cannot be overstated, without reports, pictures and film of the fighting and the violence, no-one knows enough to put the pressure on the participants to ensure human rights are respected.
This need is particularly strong in Sri Lanka, where fatalities on all sides are believed to be very high with large numbers of civilians caught in the crossfire. All parties to the conflict are responsible for grave violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has expressed concern that “since the start of the year civilian casualties had gone up as the number of indiscriminate attacks had grown in the north, east and south of the country.”
Despite the gravity of the human cost of war, Sri Lanka is a conflict where journalists face unjustified restrictions on reporting and there are very few established facts. In fact, both sides consistently contradict each other.
The conflict in Sri Lanka is between government forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and armed Tamil groups alleged to be aligned with the government. Sri Lanka, as Amnesty International reported in its February report Silencing Dissent, is a country where media coverage of war has effectively been silenced – through threats, restrictions and violence.
The conflict in the north and east of Sri Lanka has continued to escalate since the ending of the ceasefire agreement on 16 January 2008. The withdrawal of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission responsible for monitoring the implementation of the 2002 ceasefire agreement means that there is a vacuum of independent reporting of human rights violations. This makes it more urgent that journalists are allowed to report without undue restrictions and document human rights abuses on the ground.
Yet journalists are often barred from conflict areas. The LTTE does not allow independent reporting in the areas under its control, while the government masks the cost of the war.
According to the Free Media Movement, a Colombo-based media watchdog, Government of Sri Lanka officials have barred photographers in the past week from entering hospitals in Colombo where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers injured in battle in late April are being treated.
According to the International Federation of Journalists, 25 journalists from the minority Tamil community had fled the Jaffna peninsula where government forces are battling Tamil Tiger rebels.
It is two years since support staff Suresh Kumar and Rajiv Kumar were gunned down at the Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper office on 2 May 2006. The newspaper has come under severe attack because of its alleged Tamil nationalist stance. Seven media workers have been killed in Jaffna since the beginning of May 2006, four of these working with Uthayan.
Gunmen on motorcycles attacked the office and killed the two workers in the absence of the journalists the gunmen were apparently looking for. The killers still walk free.
“Publishing our daily newspaper in Jaffna is an increasingly Herculean and dangerous task with armed gunmen who continuously threaten our work and our lives,” said the editor of Uthayan.
To date, the organisation is unaware of any investigation that has led to the arrest and prosecution of those believed responsible for the killing of journalists and other media workers.
In another incident, journalist Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam was arrested on 7 March and has been held in the Terrorist Investigation Division Detention centre in Colombo since. The authorities have claimed that he is held on suspicion of involvement with the LTTE, although he has not been charged with any offence.
Amnesty International has said that his detention is arbitrary. He is at risk of going blind if he does not receive specialist treatment for a serious eye condition.
In all, at least 10 media workers have been unlawfully killed in Sri Lanka since the beginning of 2006. Others have been arbitrarily detained, tortured and allegedly disappeared while in the custody of security forces.
For Press Freedom Day 2008, Amnesty International has urged the Sri Lankan government to protect media workers and their rights to life, liberty and security of person, in compliance with Sri Lanka’s obligations under international law.
The organization has also called on the government to respect media workers and publicly announce that killings, threats, or other attacks will not be tolerated and to investigate all cases of attacks, disappearances and killings of media workers promptly, independently, impartially and effectively, irrespective of the identity of perpetrators or victims.
The organisation is also calling on the LTTE to issue instructions to all its members to cease all killings, threats or other attacks on media workers. All parties to the conflict must stop targeting journalists.
May 2nd, 2008
Previous Posts